


feet firm on the ground (we stood hand in hand)

by thebigempty (SP4CEC4DET)



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime)
Genre: Childhood Memories, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Invisible Snufkin, M/M, could be platonic or romantic for snufmin, that's what happens with fifty kids and also a tendency to wander the world, the Mymble and the Joxter weren't bad parents just kinda absent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 14:46:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18593440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SP4CEC4DET/pseuds/thebigempty
Summary: With the Joxter visiting Moomin Valley for the first time in a long time, all of Snufkin's friends are very excited to meet and get to know him. But what can Moomintoll do when he finds his best friend to be a little more transparent than usual from feeling left out?





	feet firm on the ground (we stood hand in hand)

**Author's Note:**

> very much based on the art of @jorratedlegs on tumblr which is based on the song used in the latest(?) episode in Moominvalley; "Ready Now" by Dodie Clark, which is also where i got the title

It was not the Joxter's fault, Snufkin knew this.

Snufkin understood better than anyone (except, perhaps, his mother the Mymble) why his father had not been around when he was a child. Wanderlust ran in the family, after all.

But that did not change the transparency in his finger tips, tingling like a reopened wound.

The Joxter was visiting Moomin Valley this summer. He had know Moominmamma and Moominpapa since they had been Moominmaiden and Moomintroll and it had been almost as long since he'd seen them. He was not surprised, however, to hear they had a son, as he had heard as much from Snufkin when they met in the past in their winter travels. He had very much from Snufkin about Moomin during their winter travels. This is why they got along so swimmingly. The Jotxer was very keen on which legends would entice Sniff, which tricks would entertain Little My, which gifts would please Snorkmaiden, and, almost especially so, which stories would captivate Moomintoll. He held all their attention thoroughly. And Snufkin did not mind the lack of attention (he preferred solitude where his father liked an audience) but he had not ever felt so distant from his friends--from his dear Moomin--as he did then.

And that was the true source of his fading appearance.

It had happened to him once before when he was much smaller and much more alone, making him leave the house his mother had raised him in to find the freeing solitude of the life of a vagabond. He realized then one can turn invisible as much from a lack of being seen as from being treated harshly (and he didn't blame the Mymble for not being able to look for him and he didn't blame the Joxter for not being around to see). Then, the answer was the lack of eyes around him, for not long after he started his travels did he become visible again. It only made sense then, with his re-fading hand, that solitude would be the answer again.

But he found, frustratingly enough, that the more he kept to himself, the more the others sought the Joxter and the more he faded away. It wasn't until his father longed for his own quiet and left the valley that Snufkin's ailment had been noticed.

"Snufkin!" Moomin called as he skipped over the bridge the day after the Joxter left. "Snufkin, we're heading to the lake if you would like to--oof!" Moomin landed, chin first, into the grass in front of Snufkin's tent, having tripped over something entirely unseen. "Oh dear..." Mooning said, rubbing his snout as he sat up.

Snufkin sat up as well--the unseen thing being his knee as he lay in the grass--and froze. He was sure to have been noticed, but a floating hat and empty clothes must look rather odd to the Moomintroll. Snufkin didn't even know if he'd have the voice to explain it to him.

"Snufkin?" Moomin asked, blinking owlishly at the space between the hat and scarf. "Snufkin, is that you?"

Snufkin opened his mouth to reply, but when no sound came out, he simply nodded, hoping his bobbing hat would do.

"Oh Snufkin..." Moomin gasped, voice surprisingly soft, "You've...you've gone invisible like Ninny."

Snufkin didn't know who Ninny was, but he was quite relieved to know he wasn't the first person Moomin had seen with his ailment.

"Oh dear Snufkin," Moomin frowned, "What happened? Who--can you speak, Snufkin?"

Once again, he opened his mouth to try, and once again nothing came out so he shook his head with only his swishing hat as an answer.

"Oh..." Moomin pondered a moment before moving. He sat next to Snufkin, slowly wrapping his arms around the other's torso and nuzzling close. "Then I will sit here with you until you can. Or until it is supper time, I suppose. A good meal could help you as well."

Snufkin felt warmth bloom in his chest. He may have cried a bit, but it was hard to notice on his own. He was infinitely grateful to Moomin for staying by his side. And indeed, the two of them sat in silence, watching the river pass them by and soaking up each other's love and company. They did not move until they heard Moominmamma calling across the fields.

"Come stay in our house tonight?" Moomin asked as he stood.

There was no way Snufkin could have said no.

He stood too and they walked side by side up to the house.

"Oh! Snufkin, your tail is starting to show!"

Sure enough, when he checked, the very tufts of his tail were in view and he knew in an instant it was because of Moomin. He wanted to thank the troll but he still had no voice. So he gently found his friend's paw with his own, squeezing it softly. Mooning let out a quiet "oh" and squeezed back all the same.

**Author's Note:**

> i love the Joxter and the Mymble i promise! i imagine them to be rather sweet parents to their quiet son when they had the opportunity to raise him  
> also the Joxter is an attention hog when he sees new people (and wanted to learn about Sunfkin from them as much as they did from him)
> 
> edit: jorratedlegs did an art for this fic!! check them out!! https://jorratedlegs.tumblr.com/post/184481014631/someone-wrote-a-short-story-with-the-invisible


End file.
